Democrats have a knack for stumbling into trouble with mothers who aren't in the paid labor force.
In the late 1990s, Senator Chris Dodd said that being a full-time homemaker was a "wonderful luxury" for women who "want to go play golf or go to the club and play cards." In 2012, Democratic talking head Hilary Rosen had to apologize after saying that Ann Romney, who raised five sons, had "never worked a day in her life." And a few months ago, President Barack Obama seemed to suggest that for mothers to leave the labor force for a few years is "not a choice we want Americans to make."
I don't think Obama meant to say that all women should keep working through their children's first years. But Democrats do seem to have a blind spot — to put it charitably — about women who choose differently, and about some of the realities of family life.